industry agree: Branding is vital to successful marketing. Just how important? A
study conducted by market research firm
Yankelovich estimated that a person living in a city sees up to 5,000 ad messages
a day. Consider the odds. If your brand
doesn’t stand out from the pack, it could
get lost in the fray.

Personal branding can include everything from influencer marketing, SEO,
content marketing, traditional PR and
beyond. Ruby insists people want to work
with someone who has a strong personal
brand they have already encountered
online before ever picking up the phone.
Clients want to be consumed by several
touch points of the brand or “person”
before speaking to them.

What is your brand? Are you branded
as a keynote speaker? A leader in the
regional real estate market? An early
adopter of social media? As the Snapchat
leader for real estate execs? Or, is your
brand defined by the continued content
you byline in Forbes and trade publications? All of these attributes can factor
into a strong personal brand.

Like Blanca, Faith Hope Consolo has
established a strong commercial real estate
industry brand along with the mantra,
“You Need Faith.” Like Blanca, she didn’t
start out in the field. She launched her
building modeling agency in New York
and then a design firm in Los Angeles
before entering real estate in 1985 with no
real experience and no Internet.

“Brand identity is so powerful because
it’s a shorthand for how clients think
about your business,” says Consolo, who
heads the Faith Consolo Team at Douglas
Elliman’s Retail Group in New York City.
“Branding is a visual cue that evokes your
company and your product. As marketers, what we want is for a client to see the
brand identity—and for it to be eye-catching and memorable—and have it evoke
what they love about working with us.

Branding relates to who you are, what youdo and how and why and where.”In the commercial real estate world,Consolo is known for providing round-the-clock access and detailed expertise.Her brand values are authenticity, integ-rity, dependability, accessibility and ser-vice excellence. Her clients understandshe will tell them what they need toknow, not just what they want to know.Every powerful personal brand stands onpersonal values.

“People do business with people theyknow, they trust personally and profession-ally, and they like,” Blanca says. “Particularlyin a relationship-driven business like com-mercial real estate, personal branding iscritical as it provides a way to differentiateyourself and connect with people at verymeaningful, personal levels.”That’s been true for Kyle Matthews,founder of Matthews Real EstateInvestment Services in 2008 during theGreat Recession. He built up his reputa-tion with Marcus & Millichap but becameso successful his team branched out intoan entity of its own. His firm has becomeone of the largest commercial brokeragefirms in the country in both volume andnumber of transactions. Matthews says,“Personal branding is powerful becauseit’s what allows your name to stick in own-ers’ minds as the definitive market expertin whatever it is you specialize.”

MAKE YOURSELF MEMORABLE

Blanca says she built her brand by simply
being herself. Her own brand, as well as
her company’s, are an extension of the
traditional values she naturally holds
dear, such as working hard, delivering on
promises and generously giving back to
her community.

“I’ve always invested in marketing andpublic relations to further elevate aware-ness of my brand and help keep it top-of-mind in the community,” Blanca says. “Ibelieve my strong personal brand hasenabled me to build a highly talented andcohesive team and is one of the reasonsBlanca Commercial Real Estate has grownas South Florida’s leading independentbrokerage firm, bucking the industry’sconsolidation trends.”Consolo points to consistency andimpact as two ingredients to a memorable,inspiring brand. Once your personal brandis developed, she says, all client touch-points tie back to it—the same logo, thesame fonts, look and feel of the marketing.

“You hammer in the message when it’sunified. And the impact is what you want,”Consolo says. “I want the client to see mybrand and be moved emotionally and toremember me. The luxe pink and blackpens with my ‘You Need Faith’ logo is thebest example. My brand personalityuniquely characterizes me setting meapart from the rest.”As Ruby sees it, one of the most effec-tive personal branding techniques forcommercial real estate execs is craftingbylined content in large-scale media out-lets to attract a following. Specifically, shesays, commercial real estate thought lead-ers should write about market trends,

In a relationship-driven business
like commercial real estate,
personal branding is critical as it
provides a way to differentiate yourself
and connect with people at very
meaningful, personal levels.

Tere Blanca

Blanca Commercial Real Estate Services

Personal branding is powerful
because it’s what allows your
name to stick in owners’ minds
as the definitive market expert in
whatever it is you specialize.